Consider Wildness

League of Wildness,

I'm asking for your help.

I ask that you please consider giving the Gift of Wildness this holiday season. I recognize that many of you have most, if not all of the wild gym products and you just might not need anything else. I totally get it and if that is you - THANK YOU for supporting us all these years! 

I'm asking for your help to grow our truly AMAZING and WILD community.

Maybe there is someone in your life who has recognized your increased wildness and would benefit from increasing theirs?

In June of this year we launched our official wild gym Facebook group to host ongoing outdoor workout challenges. The amount of positivity, energy, enthusiasm, love, and of course - wildness has far exceeded my expectations. I knew you all were wild but, for real - I’ve been blown away. 

People in the group are certainly helping each other stay more consistent with their workouts, eat healthier, and be more intentional about their health and fitness. This is exactly what we had hoped for and is absolutely improving people’s lives.

What I didn’t necessarily expect, but have come to recognize as the most important thing about the group is the community. 

When someone shares their journey with having a young child in the hospital, the community is there to provide support and offer them psychological fuel to move through the unimaginably difficult time.

When an elderly parent passes away people share their reflections in the group and are aided in their processing. It’s a very human experience that unfortunately we all will have to relate to at some point and the community sharing of that experience helps to bring peace.

When a single-mom shares their very real struggle while simultaneously expressing their complete love for their child the community is inspired. At the same time, the community is there for this individual to at the very least say, “I hear you”. An open, empathetic ear can at times be the most powerful offering a community can make.

There is a sentiment that online communities “aren’t real”. I have heard this said by people I respect and to be honest - it’s something that I used to believe myself.

I do not anymore.

We have a real community.

I feel like I know many of you at the friend level. It’s like we could sit down at a coffee shop, or even better, get outside for a workout and it would have the same comfortable, natural feeling of seeing a childhood friend.

I’ve also increasingly noticed that when Kim and I chat we refer to you as if we were referring to a neighbor or a friend that lives in the next town over. It’s real.

I went to college thinking that I wanted to be a doctor. Once I understood what that meant - I realized that it was not the path for me. However, the question still remained - what was the path, then?

I’ve spent years trying to find it and I even may have crossed it a few times, but I never stayed on course - it just wasn’t clear. However, I believe that I’ve found it now.

There is no greater feeling than getting an email, DM, or other form of correspondence from you saying how wild gym has changed your life for the better. That is IT.

I’ve concluded that my hesitation with medicine was that I did not want to treat illness - I wanted to help prevent it from ever happening in the first place. 

I believe that participating in a community that values physical culture, time spent outside,  eating real food, self-examination, and personal development is a community that will breed health and purpose.

What unites the entire process is the expansion of the possible. 

As you become fitter and healthier, as you improve your mindset, and develop your personhood - your capacity in life increases. Things that may have been literally impossible in the past, are now within your capabilities. I cannot imagine a better medicine than the ability of one to benevolently manifest their imagination in the real world.

This is the archetypal hero's journey that appears to be hard wired into our DNA. It is a process that can repeat infinitely as you adventure through the landscapes of the human spirit.

What creates a sum that is greater than the individual parts is when we bring the lessons from our individual trials and tribulations and share them with the community. One of my favorite quotes is from the book Into the Wild, where on his deathbed, Chris McCandless carves the words, “Happiness is only real when shared”. 

Sharing creates a new reality.

Abstract ideas become tangible in the minds of others.

You can change someone's life simply by sharing.

Thank you for sharing and please consider helping to grow the wild gym community. We cannot wait to meet more wild people like YOU!

With eternal gratitude (and wildness),

-Wildman Dan